This invention relates to a method and the corresponding equipment for testing the colour and reflectivity characteristics of high-visibility garments, in order to establish whether they conform to industry standards.
The method in accordance with the invention involves the simultaneous acquisition of a digitalised image of the garment to be analysed and a reference sample by the same equipment, breakdown of the surface of the garment into a number of zones and measurement of the colour and reflectivity characteristics of each zone;
comparison of each measurement thus taken with the same measurement relating to the reference sample;
display of an image of the garment in which the zones presenting colour and/or reflectivity characteristics that fail to comply with the required limits are displayed in a different colour.
The patent also relates to the equipment designed to implement the said method.
The method in accordance with the invention enables garments to be tested quickly and precisely by a fully automatic process which offers the advantages of a considerable saving of time and precise, immediately displayed results.
The method and equipment in accordance with the invention are particularly suitable for use in the field of manufacture and treatment (washing, etc.) of high-visibility garments, such as working clothes of the type used at roadworks, where the workers need to be visible from a distance even in poor lighting conditions.
For this purpose, garments of a colour easily visible from a distance (generally orange or similar) are used, and a number of bands covered with a material that reflects nearly all the light received are applied to them.
As already mentioned, these garments are particularly useful in all cases in which workers have to operate in difficult and/or dangerous situations; they are used, for example, by rescue teams, personnel who work at night or in conditions of poor visibility on sites where moving vehicles are present, etc.
To meet the current regulations, these garments must present precise characteristics relating to the shade of colour and degree of reflectivity of the materials used; these characteristics must be checked periodically, in particular after washing operations and the like.
Until a few years ago, this type of check was performed empirically by placing the garment next to a set of colour samples, one of which, corresponding to the standard, was taken as the main reference, while the others departed from the optimum value to a greater or lesser extent.
The evaluation consists of a visual inspection designed to establish which of these samples is most similar to the colour of the garment; however, this method involves a degree of uncertainty and the risk of error, caused for example, by different lighting conditions, operator evaluation errors, etc.
Instrumental reading methods were recently introduced which involve the use of an instrument able to read the colour, reflectivity and brightness values of a small area of fabric and compare them with a table of preset values.
However, this is a merely a spot reading, ie. it relates only to one spot or a very small area of the garment, with the result that numerous readings are required; calculation and interpolation techniques are then used to obtain information about the whole surface, but the method does not guarantee that the results in each of these areas comply with the standard.
The present invention falls into this sector; its purpose is to provide a rapid, simple instrumental method of checking the whole surface of a garment which produces precise, reliable results that are easily and immediately interpreted.
This purpose is achieved with the method and equipment in accordance with the characterising part of the claims annexed hereto.
This invention will now be described in detail, by way of example but not of limitation, by reference to the annexed figures in which: